How to Draw the Head from Any Angle

Lesson by

10M

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How to Draw the Head from Any Angle

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Portrait Drawing Fundamentals

10M

Mark as Completed

Assignments 814Lesson NotesDownloads 2

Draw the Loomis Head

Take a bunch of pictures of either yourself or someone else and then use them to construct the head using the Loomis method. Focus on getting the up and down tilt correct. Make sure to make careful measurements that I mentioned in this video and keep your lines clean. Remember that every person has individual proportions that will be different from the average loomis head. At this point, just draw the average proportions. Once you’re comfortable with that, you can try to capture the distinct characteristics of the person you’re drawing.

If you’re having trouble drawing the circle or oval of the head, spend some at the beginning of each day warming up your hand with a lot of circles and oval.

Marco Sanchez

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I still got some problems drawing from different angles, I'd like you mention things to improve.

@feawi

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1mo

just practicing different tilts of the head to realty understand it. Critiques are appreciated.

@feawi

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1mo

any critique would be great, one of the problems I’m having is understanding if at the bottom of the jaw should it be drawn like a L shape or should the jaw go across with a slight angle?

Rachel Dawn Owens

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1mo

Maybe this helps

Nicole Guz

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1mo

100 Heads Challenge By Ahmed Aldoori Process: *20 minutes per head *10 a day for 10 days (not strictly followed as I have a toddler 😄) * I used Loomis Head Method as that is the only method I know for now(I will learn the other 2 methods in the future) I did this as a challenge to get better and faster at making heads and it proves to be very challenging as I am bad at proportions and shading but I am willing to get better. # tips, advices or critiques are very welcome

Jim H

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1mo

@Nicole Guz if I could give you the persistence award, I would! Do you have any favorite heads? Did you try something out and it worked well that you'd like to repeat in the future?

Nicole Guz

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3mo

For the fourth week of my portrait study, I sought to learn from Stephen Bauman's approach by mimicking his shading and line work. Afterwards, I practiced these skills by creating portraits of Hollywood actors based on different references. I invite any advice, insights, or critiques.

Martha Muniz

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2mo

Beautiful rendering, and great mileage! I would recommend using the guidelines for the facial features especially to double check the placement and construction before going into shading. Making sure they align in the same perspective, meaning all the features are facing the same direction, is key to making a portrait feel solid, and doing it as early as possible saves more time than if you were to correct it once it's all rendered out. I've added an example of what I mean by checking the alignment, hope this helps! :)

Nicole Guz

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4mo

Three weeks into drawing portraits after watching tutorials. Any tips and critiques? How can i bridge the gap between my current skill level and that of accomplished artists such as Stephen Bauman and Jeff Watts ? I use graphite on 8.5x11 paper

Melanie Scearce

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3mo

These are lovely portraits. Keep it up! Mileage is what separates the likes of Jeff Watts and Stephen Bauman from less experienced artists. My advice is to continue your journey and enjoy :)

Nicole Guz

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4mo

Second week after taking the whole portrait class. Any critiques and tips?

@pusheen

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4mo

this is really cool! I think if you add a bit more shading and definition it would make it even better.

faye zhang

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4mo

Round 2: I’m having trouble with the jaw and chin area, especially for female faces

Nicole Guz

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4mo

After finishing the whole features of the face. These are the first 4 tries!

@sharpjab

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4mo

I got a bit more rhythm in making different head angles using loomis method. So I was trying to pick one face and draw it in different angles while still keeping it recognisable. I think I could get it to look somewhat consistent. Like I can tell it's the same person. I'm still struggling with getting the angle of the tilt right. Is there any hack to measure the tilt correctly?

@drusk

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4mo

I don't think there is any easy hack to getting the tilt correct. It's all about the spacing of the facial features and the ear placement. Tilting up puts the top of the ears below the eyebrows, tilting down puts them above. Remember, the human face is one of the most difficult subjects to draw not because of its complexity but because we are all genetically preprogrammed to know exactly how it is supposed to look. Micro changes will look wrong. Watch Stephen Bauman do a portrait demo (a master of portraiture) and even he will get things off on the first pass and need to make adjustments. These look good by the way. Keep at it.

@sharpjab

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5mo

My attempt at learning loomis method for the sixth time. I’m still struggling with looking upwards with a tilt angle. Have used my own face.

Dudts Draws

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5mo

good, keep it up, just remember always that the centerline is very important for later stage , (placement of the features ) So you should see it clearly in every loomis head.

Nicole Guz

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5mo

My try after watching the loomis method.( I have yet to watch the features!)

James Burnette

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5mo

I created this to practice different views. I found one online (the line art one) and started using it but I don't think it's correct. Let me know if you can think of a way to improve it.

Dudts Draws

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5mo

Is it your sketches in the first image?

Nicole Guz

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5mo

faye zhang

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5mo

This was so fun to do! Please give me some feedback on my Loomis heads. At first glance, I can see I got some of the angles wrong. I’ve straightened a lot of them out 😅

@sknight

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6mo

Have really been enjoying these! Is there any sort of "rule" for where the line from the center of the oval to the chin should stop on the front plane? It seems like everything else is slotted into place but that line lends it self more to placing it where it feels right, as opposed to using a more math-y approach.

Joseph Osley

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6mo

These look great! I'm having a bit of trouble parsing the phrasing, "center of oval to the chin," in your question. If you're referring to(and here's where I have a hard time translating the visual to the verbal) the curved line from above the ear to the chin, I think that is like you said, more intuitive and less math-y. It's just a guideline to help you envision where the plane change happens from side to front(I think? I am not an expert). I think you've got a good sense of it. The heads on page two are especially well done. All the best!

Joseph Osley

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6mo

Figured I'd throw these here to compare with my first 100 Loomis Heads. Four months! Time is a flat circle... which you can use to construct Loomis heads, should you so choose to do so. So; I drew 100 Heads in ten days for the 100 Head Challenge, put forth by Ahmed Aldoori. The Pinterest board these came from had more than 100 reference pics so I did these at random. There were a lot of statues, sculptures, and other stuff in with typical photo refs. Some really cool angles and subjects. I was so nervous about getting them done in ten days that the results I've put up here are all over the place. Super inconsistent. After doing these and the other 100 x various facial features drawings I can see that I've made some improvement but my measuring is atrocious. I sometimes feel like I've entered a fugue state while drawing portraits where I think I am nailing it and then, when eyeing the results, realize I've not even come close to anything worthwhile. Butt. I will continue to try. Because I like to draw.